UPDATE - Six Arab FMs meet in Jordan’s Dead Sea region

ADDS QUOTES FROM JORDAN FM, ANALYST

By Laith al-Juneidi

AMMAN (AA) – A meeting of six Arab foreign ministers -- from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt -- wrapped up Thursday in Jordan’s Dead Sea region.

According to Jordan’s Petra news agency, the meeting -- held behind closed doors -- was devoted to current challenges facing the region and means of confronting them.

Petra quoted an anonymous diplomatic source as saying the meeting had tackled “a range of issues, including the need for a common Arab position, especially on the issue of Palestine”.

In brief comments made after the one-hour meeting, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi described the gathering as “positive”.

“We discussed all the issues that we are working together to address,” he said.

Bader al-Madi, a political science professor at the University of Jordan, noted the meeting's unexpectedly short duration.

“Either the attendees reached some kind of agreement before the meeting, or they had some kind of disagreement during it," he suggested.

Notably, Syria's impeding return to the Arab fold has recently become one of the most hotly-debated issues among Arab League members.

The Cairo-based league froze Syria's membership in 2011 after the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.